From the beginning, home economists were deeply concerned with the impact
of environmental factors on human well-being. At the turn of the century,
their primary focus was on the basics of nutrition and sanitation, but
by the 1920s, many home economists were turning their attention to the
physical and emotional development of children with the goal of promoting
optimal adjustment in the face of often harsh economic and social realities.
As a result, they engaged in various forms of advocacy, education, and
research.

In
the 1920s, home economists were involved in establishing the first nursery
schools in the United States. One of these pioneers was Edna Nobel White,
who was the director of the Merrill-Palmer School of Motherhood and Home
Training (later the Merrill-Palmer Institute) in Detroit, which became
a renowned center for the study of child development and parent education.
The research conducted at Merrill-Palmer had a profound impact on child-rearing
practices in this country. In short order, nursery schools were opened
in the schools of home economics in a number of universities. Some institutions
also set up "practice apartments" in which students could gain
hands-on experience in caring for infants. Typically, a baby from a local
orphanage would be placed in the apartments for a period of one year before
being put up for adoption. Although this practice may seem startling from
today's point of view, by most accounts the children thrived with all
the attention they were given, and, because they were "scientifically"
reared, they were seen as highly desirable adoptees.

Home
economists also actively promoted education in marriage and family life
for high school and college students. Such courses were common by the
1930s and 1940s and were quite popular. Instructors often encouraged frank
discussion of topics such as courtship, sexuality, family planning, marital
conflict, economic problems of young families, and employment of women
outside the home. Contrary to stereotypes, home economists were not particularly
concerned with promoting traditional gender roles or the nuclear family
as a normative structure. Instead, they recognized the variety of family
arrangements in American society at that time and were well aware of the
vulnerability of women, especially those with young children, to such
calamities as widowhood, desertion, or illness or disability of their
husbands. Although the faculty and students in schools of home economics
were overwhelmingly female, many efforts were made to encourage men and
boys to educate themselves and become involved in child care and family
life.

Departments of child development or human development in colleges of
home economics have often had a somewhat precarious status, tending to
be underfunded and somewhat marginal. Researchers in the field have often
had to turn to more established disciplines such as psychology and sociology
for journals and conferences to present their findings. Thus, home economists'
contributions to the study of human development, while significant, have
not always been highly visible or appreciated.

- Martin Heggestad, Mann Library

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